Invitation: You are invited to participate in a study being undertaken by Leila Dean under the supervision of Dr Rachel Dryer from the School of Psychology at Charles Sturt University. This project partially fulfils course requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) (Honours) in which Ms Dean is currently enrolled.

The purpose of this project is to examine people’s beliefs on obesity. Males and females over 18 years old are invited to participate. This project involves completing an online questionnaire that will take approximately 20-25 minutes of your time. In doing so you will be asked to first read some information in relation to obesity or another health matter.

Participation is confidential and voluntary. You are free to withdraw from the study at any time prior to submitting your questionnaire (in other words, you can discontinue completing the survey at any time if you no longer wish to participate). Since the questionnaires are anonymous, there is no way of identifying your questionnaire once it has been submitted. It is therefore not possible to withdraw from the study after you have submitted your questionnaire.

Responses to the online questionnaire are completely anonymous and it will not be possible to identify you from your answers. The data collected will be reported in Leila Dean's Honours Dissertation and may also appear in published journal articles or conference presentations. No individual participant could be identified from any publication or report of the data. The research data will be stored securely at Charles Sturt University for a minimum of 5 years. The research data will only be accessed by the researchers named above.

After completing the questionnaire, you will be invited to enter a draw to win one of two $50 Coles/Myer gift vouchers. Your email address will be collected only for the purpose of drawing the winners and will not be linked in any way to your responses on the questionnaire. The prizes will be drawn in September 2017 and you will be contacted if your email address was drawn.

There may be a risk of emotional discomfort as a result of taking part in this project. If you have any questions or concerns about weight gain, obesity, or your mental health, then please contact your general medical practitioner for advice and information. The BeyondBlue Helpline (1300 22 4636) also offers support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is suggested that people who may become distressed when discussing body image, decline participating in this research.

If you have any questions about the research or would like further information, including the opportunity to see the final results of the study, please contact the primary researcher, Leila Dean (email: leila@woodhousedean.com) or Dr Rachel Dryer (ph: 02 6338 4574 or email: rdryer@csu.edu.au). This information statement may be printed out and kept for future reference by using the print function in your web browser.

Charles Sturt University’s Human Research Ethics Committee has approved this project (protocol number H17086). If you have any complaints or reservations about the ethical conduct of this project, you may contact the Committee through the Executive Officer: